View difference between Paste ID: tXpZCQ2z and 4nRg9CHU

 ------------------------------------------------------------------ utils
 local controls = {["\n"]="\\n", ["\r"]="\\r", ["\t"]="\\t", ["\b"]="\\b", ["\f"]="\\f", ["\""]="\\\"", ["\\"]="\\\\"}
 
 local function isArray(t)
 	local max = 0
 	for k,v in pairs(t) do
 		if type(k) ~= "number" then
 			return false
 		elseif k > max then
 			max = k
 		end
 	end
 	return max == #t
 end
 
 local whites = {['\n']=true; ['\r']=true; ['\t']=true; [' ']=true; [',']=true; [':']=true}
 function removeWhite(str)
 	while whites[str:sub(1, 1)] do
 		str = str:sub(2)
 	end
 	return str
 end
 
 ------------------------------------------------------------------ encoding
 
 local function encodeCommon(val, pretty, tabLevel, tTracking)
 	local str = ""
 
 	-- Tabbing util
 	local function tab(s)
 		str = str .. ("\t"):rep(tabLevel) .. s
 	end
 
 	local function arrEncoding(val, bracket, closeBracket, iterator, loopFunc)
 		str = str .. bracket
 		if pretty then
 			str = str .. "\n"
 			tabLevel = tabLevel + 1
 		end
 		for k,v in iterator(val) do
 			tab("")
 			loopFunc(k,v)
 			str = str .. ","
 			if pretty then str = str .. "\n" end
 		end
 		if pretty then
 			tabLevel = tabLevel - 1
 		end
 		if str:sub(-2) == ",\n" then
 			str = str:sub(1, -3) .. "\n"
 		elseif str:sub(-1) == "," then
 			str = str:sub(1, -2)
 		end
 		tab(closeBracket)
 	end
 
 	-- Table encoding
 	if type(val) == "table" then
-		assert(not tTracking[val], "Cannot encode a table holding itself recursively")
+		if not tTracking[val] then
-		tTracking[val] = true
+			tTracking[val] = true
-		if isArray(val) then
+			if isArray(val) then
-			arrEncoding(val, "[", "]", ipairs, function(k,v)
+				arrEncoding(val, "[", "]", ipairs, function(k,v)
-				str = str .. encodeCommon(v, pretty, tabLevel, tTracking)
+					str = str .. encodeCommon(v, pretty, tabLevel, tTracking)
-			end)
+				end)
 			else
-			arrEncoding(val, "{", "}", pairs, function(k,v)
+				arrEncoding(val, "{", "}", pairs, function(k,v)
-				assert(type(k) == "string", "JSON object keys must be strings", 2)
+					assert(type(k) == "string", "JSON object keys must be strings", 2)
-				str = str .. encodeCommon(k, pretty, tabLevel, tTracking)
+					str = str .. encodeCommon(k, pretty, tabLevel, tTracking)
-				str = str .. (pretty and ": " or ":") .. encodeCommon(v, pretty, tabLevel, tTracking)
+					str = str .. (pretty and ": " or ":") .. encodeCommon(v, pretty, tabLevel, tTracking)
-			end)
+				end)
 			end
 		else
 			str = 'null'
 		end
 	-- String encoding
 	elseif type(val) == "string" then
 		str = '"' .. val:gsub("[%c\"\\]", controls) .. '"'
 	-- Number encoding
-		error("JSON only supports arrays, objects, numbers, booleans, and strings", 2)
+
 		str = tostring(val)
 	else
         str = 'null'
 		-- error("JSON only supports arrays, objects, numbers, booleans, and strings", 2)
 	end
 	return str
 end
 
 function encode(val)
 	return encodeCommon(val, false, 0, {})
 end
 
 function encodePretty(val)
 	return encodeCommon(val, true, 0, {})
 end
 
 ------------------------------------------------------------------ decoding
 
 local decodeControls = {}
 for k,v in pairs(controls) do
 	decodeControls[v] = k
 end
 
 function parseBoolean(str)
 	if str:sub(1, 4) == "true" then
 		return true, removeWhite(str:sub(5))
 	else
 		return false, removeWhite(str:sub(6))
 	end
 end
 
 function parseNull(str)
 	return nil, removeWhite(str:sub(5))
 end
 
 local numChars = {['e']=true; ['E']=true; ['+']=true; ['-']=true; ['.']=true}
 function parseNumber(str)
 	local i = 1
 	while numChars[str:sub(i, i)] or tonumber(str:sub(i, i)) do
 		i = i + 1
 	end
 	local val = tonumber(str:sub(1, i - 1))
 	str = removeWhite(str:sub(i))
 	return val, str
 end
 
 function parseString(str)
 	str = str:sub(2)
 	local s = ""
 	while str:sub(1,1) ~= "\"" do
 		local next = str:sub(1,1)
 		str = str:sub(2)
 		assert(next ~= "\n", "Unclosed string")
 
 		if next == "\\" then
 			local escape = str:sub(1,1)
 			str = str:sub(2)
 
 			next = assert(decodeControls[next..escape], "Invalid escape character")
 		end
 
 		s = s .. next
 	end
 	return s, removeWhite(str:sub(2))
 end
 
 function parseArray(str)
 	str = removeWhite(str:sub(2))
 
 	local val = {}
 	local i = 1
 	while str:sub(1, 1) ~= "]" do
 		local v = nil
 		v, str = parseValue(str)
 		val[i] = v
 		i = i + 1
 		str = removeWhite(str)
 	end
 	str = removeWhite(str:sub(2))
 	return val, str
 end
 
 function parseObject(str)
 	str = removeWhite(str:sub(2))
 
 	local val = {}
 	while str:sub(1, 1) ~= "}" do
 		local k, v = nil, nil
 		k, v, str = parseMember(str)
 		val[k] = v
 		str = removeWhite(str)
 	end
 	str = removeWhite(str:sub(2))
 	return val, str
 end
 
 function parseMember(str)
 	local k = nil
 	k, str = parseValue(str)
 	local val = nil
 	val, str = parseValue(str)
 	return k, val, str
 end
 
 function parseValue(str)
 	local fchar = str:sub(1, 1)
 	if fchar == "{" then
 		return parseObject(str)
 	elseif fchar == "[" then
 		return parseArray(str)
 	elseif tonumber(fchar) ~= nil or numChars[fchar] then
 		return parseNumber(str)
 	elseif str:sub(1, 4) == "true" or str:sub(1, 5) == "false" then
 		return parseBoolean(str)
 	elseif fchar == "\"" then
 		return parseString(str)
 	elseif str:sub(1, 4) == "null" then
 		return parseNull(str)
 	end
 	return nil
 end
 
 function decode(str)
 	str = removeWhite(str)
 	t = parseValue(str)
 	return t
 end
 
 function decodeFromFile(path)
 	local file = assert(fs.open(path, "r"))
 	local decoded = decode(file.readAll())
 	file.close()
 	return decoded
 end